1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, printing method, print server, control method, and computer-readable medium for performing pull print control.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has conventionally been proposed a so-called “pull print” printing system capable of outputting print data from a printing apparatus when the user issues a print request to the printing apparatus for print data temporarily stored in a server (see, for example, Japanese Patent No. 4033857). In printing from an application, the user can output print data not from a specific printing apparatus but from a printing apparatus of his choice.
When the user is to designate a document to be printed, the document names and several document attributes (for example, duplexing setting and page count) of documents temporarily stored in the server are listed and displayed on the operation panel of the printing apparatus. The user can select a document of his choice from the list display, and select print data.
However, it is difficult for the pull print system to display a preview because no print data itself exists in the printing apparatus when the user specifies a print document on the printing apparatus. In addition, print data that is temporarily stored in the server is PDL (Page Description Language) data, and has various specifications and model dependence. To generate a preview image from print data, PDL needs to be analyzed with much labor for a model to be coped with. When a new function is added, even PDL is often expanded. It is not practical to alter the system program in every expansion.
A preview display on the printing apparatus suffices to provide an outline of document contents. The communication load increases if print data is transmitted to the printing apparatus to only display a preview. Further, processing of generating a preview image from print data puts a heavy burden on the printing apparatus.